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A VERY NICE 3rd WATERMARK "NWPI" OVERPRINTED (TYPE C) 2/- BROWN KANGAROO: "ANILINE RED-BROWN" - JANUARY 1917 PRINTING - MINT FULL ORIGINAL GUM
The 3rd Watermark 2/- Brown Kangaroo stamp was initially printed in April 1916 by J.B. COOKE and first issued in May 1916. The T.S. HARRISON printings followed through to the introduction of the 2/- MAROON Kangaroo in 1924. These were printed from two Plates (Plate 1~UPPER & Plate 2~LOWER) each with 120-on in two Panes of 60 each in 10 Horizontal Rows of SIX Stamps. They were used to make-up the higher telegram, parcel and bulk postal charges of the day. There were some 13 printings (three by COOKE and ten by HARRISON) of this issue between April 1916 and March 1923, totalling 13,094,880 stamps.
HISTORY: The first German post offices opened in German New Guinea, in the Bismarck Archipelago and the North Solomon Islands in 1888 and used stamps of the German Reich issued between 1875 and 1887 (denominations in an oval or imperial eagle series). On the mail, they were cancelled with a round datestamp bearing the name of the town in the upper part and a five arm star in the lower. "DEUTSCH/NEU-GUINEA" appeared in the middle of datestamps some years after. In 1897 and 1898, six stamps of Germany were overprinted with the name of the colony, printed diagonally on two lines. In 1901, stamps were issued with the name of the colony printed on them picturing 'the German imperial yacht’.
THE WAR: In September 1914, at the beginning of World War I in Europe, Australian troops invaded German New Guinea. In October and December 1914, the remaining stocks of German colonial stamps were overprinted with two mentions. On the upper line, "G.R.I." for Georgius Rex Imperator in honour of King George V, King of the United Kingdom and Emperor of India. The second line was a new denomination expressed in the Australian pound subdivisions (pence and shillings). From January 1915 to 1925, stamps used in New Guinea and Nauru were overprinted “N. W. PACIFIC ISLANDS". These stamps were taken from stocks of the Kangaroo and Map series and the George V series of Australia.
THE OVERPRINT: was first made in Melbourne and the stamps were intended for other ex-German colonies in the Pacific mainly; The MARSHALL Islands, MARIANNE Islands and the CAROLINE Islands and were to have been issued at JALUIT in the Marshall Islands. Those stamps were for the NW Pacific Islands. But by the time the issue was ready, the Islands had passed into the hands of the Japanese and therefore the stamps became redundant before being circulated! It was decided to send the stamps to RABUL for use in that part of the former German colonies which still remained in Australian ‘possession’. Even though the overprint was not really relevant to the area, it was used due to an Australian reluctance to use our un-overprinted stamps and the significant pressures faced by the Commonwealth Printing Office at the time. The new military Governor took the overprinted stamps with him to Rabaul in Late 1914 and they were placed on sale for the first time in January 1915. The first stamps included 10,080 1d Red KGV and 8,160 of the 2½d Indigo Kangaroo. The overprinted stamps continued through to the Spring of 1925 when they were withdrawn and replaced by the first 'permanent issue' for Papua.
In relation to this particular 2/-BROWN issue of 1917, the 2025 ACSC states: "The ANILINE RED-BROWN printing formed a small portion of the second Cooke printing of January 1917, and is also found punctured OS. The majority of the stamps were overprinted "N.W. PACIFIC ISLANDS" for use in New Guinea"
The ANILINE RED-BROWN carries a MINT CV of $6,500 and a NINT UNHINGED CV of approx $19,500 (triple the MLH CV). Given the ACSC acknowledges the existence (majority) of the ANILINE shade in the NWPI issues, but does not list the CVs for the NWPI versions, a very reasonable extrapolation for the NWPI version of the ANILINE RED-BROWN would be around $10,000+. Very Nice centering, perforations and FULL GUM here. Very reasonable asking price of $4,500 for a very scarce marsupial.
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